I wouldn't buy new for your first RV unless you just have way too much money. What happens if you don't like a 5er, or one that long, or that floor layout, or quality, backing it up or anything else? Are you ready to lose 30%+ of its value if you sell it within two years and then go buy something else? For a lot of people it takes them three RVs to find one that they like or are comfortable with. It's a lot easier (on the wallet and frustration wise) to change RVs if they're bought used.
You've got two arguments, besides cost, about buying new vs used. The people who want the new ones say they don't want to buy someone else's problems so they want a new one and one with a warranty. That's fine, but do enough reading on the forum to see how many people, especially those new to an RV, get a unit with a lot of problems that they don't find right off, then they spend the next year with the RV going back and forth to the dealership for the repairs trying to get them repaired before the warranty expires.
I'm in the camp of buying a used RV (have done this three times) with a good inspection from a good previous owner. What you will find if you do your research is an RV that was well taken care of, and they spent the first year or two going back and forth to the dealer to have the repairs done, not you.
If you buy new, most new 5ers come with junk tires on them. The 42' unit will probably have three axles, so be prepared to put on six new tires in probably the first two years. I have seen a few new large 5ers with Sailun tires because not many tires besides Sailuns can carry the load. Buy Sailun tires when you replace the originals.
If they tell you it's prewired for solar, ask them the wire size and how long it is - because it really isn't wired for real solar usage. What they wired it for was a small solar panel to trickle charge the batteries when stored or parked. You'll need to run real wiring and install real solar panels if you want solar.
Figure out the waste tank situation. A lot of longer units have two gray water holding tanks (besides the black tank) because the bathroom and the kitchen sink are a long ways from each other. Then, a lot of mfgs don't tie the two tanks together, so you have to then make two hook-ups to the two gray tanks instead of one hook up. To me, that's a show stopper.
Are they putting a household refer or an RV refer in it. This matters depending how you will camp. If you're always going to be in an RV park, a household refer is fine - except when you're making long travel days. Then you need to run the refer off of the 5er's batteries. They should have four each six volt batteries for this. And you should install 600W of solar, or more. If you're going to camp off of the grid without a good bit of solar, you'll be running a gen set a lot to keep the batteries charged. And if putting in a long day(s) of driving without solar, you'll have to either install special charging cables from the truck to the 5er's batteries, or you'll have to run the generator while going down the road which usually is not a problem if it's a built in generator.
Speaking of a generator, does it have a built in one with a built in fuel tank, or are you prepared to buy a rather heavy generator to run the two air conditioners when not plugged in at an RV park? It will take something probably larger than a 4,000 watt generator to run both air conditioners and the microwave. If the 5er doesn't have a built in generator, lifting a large generator in and out of the truck is going to be a pain. If the 5er has one built in, where is it? Hopefully not under your bed if you run it in the heat at night.
What does it have for air conditioning units? It better be two 15K units for a 42' unit.
I hope you're planning on a one ton dually diesel truck.
That's a lot of money to put out for your first RV.
Bill
